2011 Benjamin Saltman Award Winner Announced
Brynn Saito
Title: Bright Power, Dark Peace
Here is a little about Brynn Saito: She is a poet and writer living in San Francisco, CA. She holds a BA from UC Berkely, a MA in religious studies from New York University and an MFA in poetry from Sarah Lawrence College. Her work has been anthologized in Helen Vendler’s Poems, Poets, Poetry: An Introduction and Anthology, 3rd edition (Bedford/St. Martin’s Press) and Ishmael Reed’s From Totems to Hip-Hop: A Multicultural Anthology of Poetry Across the Americas 1900-2002 (Da Capo Press).
Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in: Ninth Letter, Third Coast, Pleiades, Harpur Palate, Copper Nickel, Verse Daily, Drunken Boat, Waccamaw and The Collagist. Brynn is the recipient of a Kundiman Asian American Poetry Fellowship (2008), the Poets 11 award from the San Francisco Public Library (2010), and the Key West Literary Seminar’s Scotti Merrill Memorial Award (2011). Her first collection of poetry was a finalist for the 2011 Alice James Books/Kundiman Poetry Prize.
There were over 500 entries for the Benjamin Saltman Award. Finalists include:
Natasha Kessler, Dismantling the Rabbit Alter
Rebecca Dunham, A Frightful Release
Weston Cutter, Bad Math + Saints
Myroon Hardy, Graze for the Captain
Jennifer Chapis, Fog and Invisible Horses
Claire Clube, Dora
Annie Christain, Tall As You Are Tall Between Them
Publication Date set for March 1st, 2013
2012 Benjamin Saltman Poetry Award
Book Award
$3000 Award
Deadline: August 31, 2012
Final Judge: Katharine Coles
Established in 1998, in honor of the poet Benjamin Saltman (1927-1999), this award is for a previously unpublished original collection of poetry. Awarded collection is selected through an annual competition which is open to all poets. This year’s final judge will be Katharine Coles.
Award is $3000 and publication of the awarded collection by Red Hen Press. Entry fee is $25.00. Name on cover sheet only, 48 page minimum. Send SASE for notification. Entries must be postmarked by August 31.
Guidelines
Eligibility: The award is open to all writers with the following exceptions:
A) Authors who have had a full length work published by Red Hen Press, or a full length work currently under consideration by Red Hen Press;
B) Employees, interns, or contractors of Red Hen Press;
C) Relatives of employees or members of the executive board of directors;
D) Relatives or individuals having a personal or professional relationship with any of the final judges where they have taken any part whatsoever in shaping the manuscript, or where, for whatever reason, selecting a particular manuscript might have the appearance of impropriety.
Procedures and Ethical Considerations
To be certain that every manuscript finalist receives the fairest evaluation, all manuscripts shall be submitted to the judges without any identifying material.
Bios, acknowledgments, and other identifying material shall be removed from judged manuscripts until the conclusion of the competition.
Red Hen Press shall not use students or interns as readers at any stage of its competitions.
Red Hen Press is committed to maintaining the utmost integrity of our awards. Judges shall recuse themselves from considering any manuscript where they recognize the work. In the event of recusal, a manuscript score previously assigned by the managing editor of the press will be substituted.
Please submit materials to:
Attn: Benjamin Saltman Award
Red Hen Press
P.O. Box 40820
Pasadena, CA 91114
www.redhen.org
Red Hen Press will only accept submissions that have been mailed to the above address; please no email attachments or faxes.
Previous BSA Winners
Brynn Saito, Bright Power, Dark Peace; Lillian Yvonne-Bertram, But a Storm is Blowing From Paradise; Steve Kistulentz, Luckless Age; Rachel Contreni Flynn, Tongue; Erinn Batykeffer, Allegheny, Monongahela; Tony Barnstone, Golem of Los Angeles; Mariko Nakai, Histories of Bodies; Charles Harper Webb, Amplified Dog; Maggie Smith, Lamp of the Body; Susan Thomas, State of Blessed Gluttony; Jim Peterson, The Owning Stone; Gaylord Brewer, Devilfish
